Embarrassed by a series of cyberattacks against the federal government, the Obama administration Tuesday proposed creating a new high-level federal official to coordinate cybersecurity and to boost spending by $19 billion in President Obama’s new budget to protect all government agencies.
The one-year increase of 35 percent in cybersecurity funding is part of the “Cybersecurity National Action Plan,” described by the White House as the “capstone” of seven years of efforts to build a comprehensive federal cybersecurity response. The proposal calls for more cybersecurity training for the private sector and a new government official responsible for hunting down hackers.
Mr. Obama wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday that cyberattacks are threatening America’s electric grids, businesses and sensitive government data.
“The federal government has been repeatedly targeted by cyber criminals, including the intrusion last year into the Office of Personnel Management in which millions of federal employees’ personal information was stolen,” the president said. “Hackers in China and Russia are going after U.S. defense contractors. These cyberthreats are among the most urgent dangers to America’s economic and national security.”
Just on Monday, a hacker claiming to have downloaded information about thousands of FBI and Department of Homeland Security employees through a Justice Department computer followed through with a threat to publicly release the information online. The post — which appeared to include the names, titles and phone numbers of employees — was accompanied by pro-Palestinian slogans.
As he introduces his fiscal 2017 budget, Mr. Obama is also holding a meeting Tuesday with his national-security team and cybersecurity advisers to review the action plan against hacking.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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